The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
The Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) is one of the most crucial components on a computer motherboard. The BIOS software is preloaded into a memory (the BIOS memory) of the BIOS, and typically is the first code run by a computer when powered on. When the computer starts up, the first job for the BIOS is the power-on self-test, which initializes and identifies the system devices such as the CPU, RAM, video display card, keyboard and mouse, hard disk drive, optical disc drive and other hardware. The BIOS then locates a boot loader software held on a peripheral device (designated as a “boot device”), such as a hard disk or a CD/DVD, and loads and executes that software, giving it control of the operating system (OS). This process is known as booting, or booting up, which is short for bootstrapping.
Generally, the BIOS may have a number of settings that can be configured by a user of the computer. The BIOS provides console access for a user to modify the configuration of the BIOS settings during the startup of the host computer. The host computer may provide with applications to update the BIOS settings from the operating systems. For example, the host computer may include an application to switch the CPU of the host computer from a protected mode, which is a normal operation mode, to a system management mode (SMM), which is a special management mode.
However, in certain occasions, there is a need for the user of the host computer to configure the BIOS settings without entering the management mode. For example, when the user connects to the host computer from a remote client device and attempts to change the BIOS settings remotely, the user may not want to interrupt the operation of the host computer.
Therefore, an unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.